1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for the treatment of the elastomeric surface of a rotationally symmetrical body. Typical bodies that can be treated using the present invention are rollers and printing cylinders.
2. Description of the Art
According to prior art, conventional methods of production engineering, surface treatment techniques such as grinding, turning on a lathe, grinding on an abrasion belt and milling are used in the mechanical processing of metals and plastics. In addition to the above-mentioned methods, the use of a "rubber hog" and skiving are known for the mechanical processing of elastomers.
In addition to the known methods of production engineering and surface treatment, the use of so-called high cycle motor spindles has been adopted in metal and plastics machining. Such high cycle motor spindles are constructed to be able to reach speeds of up to 120,000 rpm. Known high-speed cutter heads are used in conjunction with the high cycle motor spindles.
German Offenlegungsschrift DE-OS 25 04 012 describes a cutter, more specifically a rabbeting cutter (notching cutter) or a keyway cutter (grooving cutter) comprising a reversing cutter. This cutter is used for machining wood or plastics.
German Auslegeschrift DE-AS 11 90 633 describes a cutter head for machining wood or plastics on which safety elements have been provided to prevent the cutters on the cutter head from being flung off due to the increased centrifugal force upon rotation of the head. It is mentioned that such tools rotate at speeds of from 600 to 12,000 rpm.
German Offenlegungsschrift DE-OS 27 36 612 describes a reversible cutter head with indexable inserts comprising circumferential chucking grooves. According to pages 4-5, such cutter heads or cutter block spindles are preferably used in machining wood or plastics.
German Offenlegungsschrift DE-OS 27 09 360 reports on a device for planing and comminuting woods, plastics and other materials in which jointer irons (plane irons) or rack cutters (comb cutters) can be inserted into a knife holder. The cutters have longitudinal edges formed as cutting edges and the cross-sectional shape of a parallelogram.
In the past, high cycle motor spindles bearing high-speed cutter heads were used only with very hard work materials in the mechanical processing of metal and plastics. With softer materials, high cycle motor spindles bearing high-speed cutter heads so far have not been used, since it was believed that this kind of mechanical processing would not result in the required surface quality. This is fully applicable to the mechanical processing of coatings of rotationally symmetrical bodies.
The techniques used in the prior art suffer from the disadvantage that a high amount of heat is generated during processing of materials. Furthermore, the so-called "trumpet effect" may occur, which is an irregularity in the symmetry in the end of the surfaces to be treated. Furthermore, vibration tracks (so-called chatter marks) may be encountered.
The established procedures also do not allow for the controlled removal of chips formed during the surface treatment, since the removed chip material will get in between the grinding wheel and the workpiece. This in return can result in abrasion commas being formed on the surface being treated.
Therefore, there is a need for a process for the mechanical surface treatment of elastomers forming the outermost layer of a rotationally symmetrical body, the surface having a hardness of from 10 Shore A to 100 Shore D, which process eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks.